"Bless the dear! she has been dreaming, and wakes up in a lovely mood," said mamma, laughing.
"Didn't you think I was drowned? How long have I been away?" asked Nelly, looking about her as if bewildered.
"About an hour. I was not troubled, for I knew you would not break your promise, dear."
"Then it was a dream, and I haven't been a mermaid?" said Nelly.
"I hope not; for I like my little girl just as she is. Tell me the dream while I smooth away these tangles before we go home."
So, sitting on her mother's knee, while Baby dug holes in the sand, Nelly told her adventures as well as she could; for now it all seemed dim and far away, and nothing remained clear in her mind but the thought that it was indeed a lovely and a happy thing to be a little child with a heart to feel, a mother to love, and a home to live in till we go to find that other one, fairer than any on the earth or in the sea.
